


Demimonde

by skripka



Category: Firefly
Genre: F/M, Melancholy, dark themes, only shippy in the background
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-04-22
Updated: 2005-04-22
Packaged: 2019-10-26 17:04:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17749943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skripka/pseuds/skripka
Summary: So many niceties, so many rules. So many twisted and broken.





	Demimonde

Seventeen days. Inara counts them on a calendar, marking each off with a graceful stroke of her calligraphy brush.

Seventeen days until Boros. Another six to Sihnon. And merciful Buddha only knew how much longer until she can get away.

The trick to being a good Companion is to care just enough, and Inara is afraid she has crossed that line. 

She probably could have blamed Kaylee and her sunshine smiles, but Inara knows that it was Mal who had gotten under her skin. Mal, with his easy swaggers and easier jibes. 

Inara's not stupid--she knows exactly what Mal thinks of her, of her profession, and probably what he thinks at night when he wakes up sweaty and hard. The problem started when she started thinking about what Mal thought...

And therein lies the rub. She's not to care. Empathize, never sympathize. She's not part of any world but her own. And she hasn't been part of that for a long time now.

So many niceties, so many rules. So many twisted and broken. Inara thought she was beyond that, but arrogance only goes so far. 

She stares at the strokes on the calendar. Slender knives, sharp and dangerous, and Inara has to will her heart to not break. The needle that lies beside her dresser mocks her with its inevitability. 

A small price, she had thought at the time. But now it's a burdensome habit, another way to mark the days.

Seventeen tracks. And six more. And as many more as needed, until it ends.


End file.
